Lasting Power of Attorney

Lasting  Power of Attorney

By appointing an attorney a person can ensure that if he or she becomes mentally incapable in the future, the person he or she trusts and wants to look after his or her affairs will be the one who does so.

The Alzheimer's Society estimates that there are currently over 750,000 people in the UK with dementia, many of these may go on to become mentally incapable. A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a set of legal documents which can empower a named person or persons to look after the financial and business affairs of another person and or the welfare affairs of that person.

Lasting Power of attorney documents have superseded the old Enduring Power of Attorney documents, although if you had one drafted and correctly certified before the cut off date in 2007 the old Enduring Power of Attorney will still be valid and covers much of the powers allocated under the financial part of the Lasting Powers of Attorney Document.

Your appointed financial attorney undertake many financial matters on your behalf these include but are not limited to;

• paying bills

• Selling your stocks and shares

• opening and closing your bank accounts and managing them

• claiming and receiving benefits, pensions and rebates on your behalf

• making decisions about other investment you hold

• doing all tax returns and paying tax bills

• paying for private medical care on your behalf

• purchasing vehicles and other capital equipment you may need

• they also have limited power to make gifts with your money or give away your belongings.

Your appointed welfare attorney can make decisions about your personal welfare, these decisions can be far reaching and include such as areas as;

• what medical testament your receive

• where you live

• making decisions about the level of care you receive

• making decisions about your diet, dress and personal appearance

• organising work ,education or training.

The above lists are not exhaustive but you as the donor or maker of the Lasting Power of Attorney can decide when creating your Lasting Power of Attorney if there are any areas you would like to restrict decision making by your attorney in.  You can even have different attorneys for different areas of finance and welfare. So for example you may want your son to look after your financial affairs your daughter to look after the majority of your welfare needs but your husband or wife to be the only person to be able to make decisions about life sustaining medical treatment.

All of this is possible with a correctly drafted Lasting Power of Attorney, why not give us a call to make an appointment for one of our consultants to come and visit you to discuss drafting your Lasting Power of Attorney.